ANNUAL

REPORT Fiscal Year

HEALTHY MOTHERS, HEALTHY BABIES Coalition of Georgia

2016

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia

improves maternal and child health through advocacy,

education and access to vital resources.

Learn more at www.hmhbga.org

HEALTHY MOTHERS, HEALTHY BABIES

Coalition of Georgia

Est. 1973

Meet Our New Executive Director:

ELISE BLASINGAME, LMSW The Board of Directors is excited to announce that Elise Blasingame, LMSW, has been named Executive Director of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia. Elise brings to her position extensive experience as a non-profit manager, researcher, fundraiser, communications professional and grassroots advocate. Previously, she served as Director of Community Education and Financial Protection for the statewide advocacy group, Georgia Watch, where she led efforts in research, education and served as an advocate at the Capitol on priority consumer issues.

Prior to her role in State advocacy, she coordinated international research projects for the Mental Health Program and Women's Access to Information Initiative at The Carter Center. Her work at The Carter Center focused on promoting access to essential health resources and information necessary for economic development, particularly in Liberia, West Africa. Elise is an Atlanta native and returned to Georgia after receiving her B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, her M.S.W. from the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and serving communities in the State of New York for seven years as an advocate. During her time in upstate New York, she worked as a birth doula and as the policy coordinator for a midwifery practice serving low-income women of color and she coordinated doula training programs for refugee women.

"I am honored to serve as Executive Director of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia," Blasingame says. "Serving the interests of women, particularly around access to healthcare and support, has long been my focus in advocacy and research. I look forward to working with our incredibly talented staff, expert Board of Directors, passionate membership, and Coalition partners to make Georgia the gold standard in maternal and infant health access with improved health outcomes for Georgia’s women and children." You can reach Elise

at elise.blasingame@hmhbga.org.

A Note from Our Board President:

LEAH ALDRIDGE, JD, IBCLC, RLC

Fiscal Year 2016 (July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016) has been a year of tremendous growth and opportunity for Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia. After five years of hard work, the Coalition proudly celebrated the passage of HB649, the Georgia Lactation Consultant Practice Act. As a service to our partners and advocates across the State, we published our first State of the State of Maternal & Infant Health in Georgia report. We also welcomed our new Executive Director, Elise Blasingame to the HMHB team.

We are excited not only by the breadth of experience that Elise brings to our organization, but also by her personal passion for improving the health status of Georgia's moms and babies. Under Elise's leadership, HMHB is poised to accomplish great things over the next several years.

HMHB is pleased to release our FY16 Annual Report. This report outlines our successes and program impact for the year, and importantly highlights our broad network of support. We are truly grateful for our partners, friends and supporters and their dedication to improving maternal and child health in Georgia. We invite you to read through the Annual Report and share in our hard-earned successes for families across the State of Georgia.

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After nearly five years of laboring, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of

Georgia is pleased to announce:

IT’S A LAW! By signing HB 649, the Georgia Lactation Consultant Practice Act, into law,

Governor Nathan Deal has improved access to clinical lactation care for

Georgia’s mothers and babies. Georgia can significantly increase the initiation

and duration of breastfeeding rates that have continued to lag behind the

national average. We appreciate his leadership and vision in establishing

Georgia as the second state in the country to license lactation consultants.

We are also extremely grateful for the leadership of Representative Sharon

Cooper for carrying this bill. She understood the barriers to clinical lactation

care, and she delivered the needed help. She is a courageous champion!

There is no dispute that breastfeeding improves the health of both mothers and

babies. HB 649 will save significant healthcare dollars for the state.

Congratulations to our Board Members, Merrilee Gober, Public Affairs Chair,

who received the American Medical Association Alliance LEAP Award on behalf

of the Georgia chapter and to Leah Aldridge, Board President, who received

the USLCA Award of Excellence for their work on this important legislation.

Erica Francis Scott, MD, National Medical Director at Optum and HMHB Board member, had the opportunity to represent the Medical Association of GA (MAG) as “Doctor of the Day” during the 2016 GA Legislative Session. She met with Governor Nathan Deal, and was introduced to the Senate and House of Representatives in their respective chambers. Thank you for your leadership!

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We were proud to present the first Corporate Stewardship Award to Aetna for their support of research in the field of oral hygiene and birth outcomes.

As always, our amazing speakers presented timely information on a number of topics including:

The Talk to Me Baby Program • Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding • Gut Biomes in Breastfeeding

Protecting Breastfeeding Potential When Medical Supplementation is Necessary • Aetna Dental

Care During Pregnancy • & LARCs (Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives)

ANNUAL MEETING 2015

PRENATAL WORKSHOPS Thanks to the generous support of AstraZeneca and other community partners, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia was able to further expand our reach in providing comprehensive prenatal education in a brief-intervention format. Surveys from our prenatal education programs indicate that all participants increased their knowledge by attending our workshop. 94% of participants reported significant increases in critical knowledge on maternal and infant health.

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HMHB operates the Maternal and Child Health Referral Line for the Department of Public Health, and the Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Helpline, to provide callers with appropriate referrals and resources across the State. In FY16:

We served 34,667 people through our call center,

including incoming calls, outgoing calls and our

public online database.

Our programs helped families in 156 counties of

Georgia to access resources and referrals.

Our caller satisfaction rate was an average of 97%

Our average wait time was 38.5 seconds.

HMHB CALL CENTER

Through our partnership with the Georgia Association for Primary Health Care, our Certified Healthcare Navigator, Roger Humphrey, serves families in the following Georgia counties: Baldwin, Burke. Columbia, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Laurens, McDuffie, Richmond, Taliaferro, Twiggs, Warren, Washington, and Wilkinson. Roger provides critical education throughout these communities on health insurance, ACA plans, affordability, eligibility and directly enrolls families in affordable ACA plans through the Federal Healthcare Marketplace. He also provides essential information on the Planning for Healthy Babies Program. In FY16, Roger served 876 families throughout 21 predominantly rural counties to help them understand and enroll in affordable healthcare plans.

Powerline: 1-800-300-9003 / Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Helpline: 1-800-CHILDREN / Children 1st: 1-855-707-8277

NAVIGATING HEALTHCARE

COMMUNITY OUTREACH In FY16, our staff and volunteers attended health fairs, community baby showers and other important events to share critical information on accessing vital resources throughout Georgia in collaboration with the following partners:

Day Care Atlanta • Mexican Consulate • Latin American Association • Caminar Latino • WIC

Guatemalan Consulate • Amerigroup • RSM-Dekalb • Atlanta Healthy Start • Babies Can’t Wait

Center for Black Women’s Wellness • Sheltering Arms • Fulton County • Mercy Care • Four

Corners Primary Care • Family Support Council • Northside Hospital • Clayton State University

Alma G. Davis Foundation • Resource Education Center • Optum Health Care • Ser Familia • Diabetes Association • Holy Trinity Church • Pregnancy Aid Center • Friendship House • Focus

Women of Distinction • Baby Luv • Cima Women’s Clinic • Silvia Gomez Community Center • GA Division of Child Support • Tucker Pregnancy Center • New American Pathways • & Others!

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To our sponsors and attendees from the 2015-16 Legislative Reception.

We value your ongoing support for our advocacy efforts and for

prioritizing Georgia’s women and children in your efforts at the Capitol!

THANK YOU

FY16 Program Participant Demographics

Amerigroup • AstaZeneca • AmeriHealth Caritas

Benevity • Capital Group • Center for Black

Women’s Wellness • Community Health Charities

Emory University • Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition

Georgia Chapter of the American Academy of

Pediatrics • Georgia Dental Association

Georgia Dental Society • Georgia OB/Gyn Society

Hemophilia of Georgia • March of Dimes

Medela • Medical Association of Georgia Alliance

Northside Hospital • Sanofi Pasteur

Shurett Dental Group / Help A Child Smile

Scion Dental • Total Craft Consultants

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Thank you to 1st Franklin Financial for choosing Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia to receive their 2015-16 Employee Gift of $15,000. We appreciate their support of our essential programming! As a 501(c)3 non-profit, we are grateful for all tax-deductible donations made through employee giving programs.

Thank you to our corporate and foundation level

partners whose support makes our work possible.

91% of HMHB revenue goes toward

program expenses.

Leah Aldridge, President

HEALTHY MOTHERS,

HEALTHY BABIES

Coalition of Georgia

FY16 BOARD OF DIRECTORS STAFF

2300 Henderson Mill Road, Suite 410

Atlanta, GA 30345

770.451.0020

www.hmhbga.org

Chip Davis, Vice President

Mike Silver, Treasurer/Secretary

Caryn Hanrahan

Pam Wilkes

Hanan Elbeitam-Brown

Shawn Smith

Mary Thompson

Brett Schroeder

Pat Swan

Atlanta Breastfeeding Consultants

Strickland Davis Financial Advising

Erica Francis Scott, MD

Elise Blasingame, LMSW

Executive Director

Susan Milne

Operations Manager

Nancy Horton, LMSW

Call Center Manager

Vickie Valiente-Mora, CLC

Information & Referral Specialist,

Bilingual - Team Leader

Shamonica McGill

Resource Manager

Ursula Davis

Information & Referral Specialist,

Bilingual

Violeta Garcia

Information & Referral Specialist,

Bilingual

Lathonia Adekunle

Information & Referral Specialist

Michael Shulman

Database Manager

Roger Humphrey

Certified Healthcare Navigator

Andy Lord

Legislative & Policy Consultant

Herman, Silver & Associates CPAs, LLC

Amerigroup Community Care

Optum Healthcare

American College of Nurse Midwives

Merrilee Gober

Attorney

Perimeter Dental

Sanofi Pasteur

Georgia DFCS Board, Georgia

Federation of Women’s Clubs

POWERLINE Maternal & Infant Health

Referrals: 1-800-300-9003

Optum Healthcare

Total Craft Consultants